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Laney Cane

4,0 von 5 SternenVery interesting

3. April 2010 - Veröffentlicht auf Amazon.com

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Everything that other reviewers here say about this book is completely true. It is very engaging and never boring, part gossipy, part investigative. If you only know the basics about Donna Summer, then this book is very well-researched and will satisfy you. If you're looking for more than just sugar-coated fluff, this book is well-worth it, too. She's had a full, incredible life that spans decades, countries, and love affairs. Each milestone and turning point is presented clearly and given its due importance. The book also goes into detail about the recording process and public reception of each and every album and almost every single she made up until the millennium. As a huge fan of her music, this was a true treat for me and I enjoyed these parts the most. I personally feel that Donna Summer not participating in the book can be seen as a good thing. To me, it keeps her at a distance, to be assessed more objectively. Past quotes sum up her state-of-mind at a given era so much better than retrospective ones. That being said, Josiah Howard stops to insert his biased opinions and assumptions way too much. This MAY be forgivable if he had limited this to reviewing her music and performances, but all too often he targets her physical appearance. Donna Summer looks white on the cover of 'On The Radio'? Preposterous! To me, she looks like a light-brown black woman. And to the next person perhaps something else entirely. And I didn't need him to tell me that she looks like a drag queen on the back of Four Seasons of Love or like Big Bird on the Live & More jacket sleeve. Really tacky. He also keeps reinforcing that her hairstyles were wigs, which I thought was unnecessary and insensitive. It's like constantly mentioning someone's falsies. On a side note, since he was analyzing her photographs so much, he should've at least INCLUDED most of them in his book to enhance the reading experience. To spend so much time talking about things that were never shown was very unsatisfying for me. I can always try to find the pics myself, but a reader shouldn't have to do that. There are, though, a few beautiful, full-page portraits of her at different stages inside. Musically speaking, he claims that Dinner With Gershwin didn't have a true hook, which I STRONGLY disagree with (it actually has two fantastic hooks in both the bridge and the chorus). Conversely, I didn't find the There Goes My Baby remake "thrilling" in the least nor did I find the arrangement "fine"; I thought the song was mostly tired and vocally over-indulgent- a rarity for Donna Summer. The point is that opinions are just that, opinions, and really undermines the integrity of a biography.

Another thing is Josiah Howard seems to be annoyed anytime Donna Summer recorded music that wasn't considered black-oriented (like Rock, the SAW-productions, etc). He keeps examining her "alienating" relationship with the black community as it pertains to her musical releases and fashion choices. What I find most interesting, though, is given his attention to those things, he barely examines the obvious fact that Ms. Summer has overwhelming chosen white lovers and husbands, not only during her European years, but well after she returned to the U.S. Odd. I felt that he addresses her born-again transformation and the alleged homophobia it inspired as well as he could've. This is one chapter where his personal opinions appear the least, and I think he treated his subject both kindly and objectively.

All-in-all, this is a book that's not perfect, but one I will read again. I read Ordinary Girl first, which I did like even though it was a rushed feel-good effort that omitted any insight into her music-making experiences. Donna Summer: Her Life and Music has an edge and an attention to detail that I fully appreciated. Both books together go very well together.

This book is a very interesting read as long as you take it all with a grain of salt. Josiah Howard writes the book as though it was an in-depth feature length article, rather than an unauthorized biography.

Pulling info from articles, interviews, and tv shows, Howard weaves a spell-binding tale of the rise and fall of Donna Summer.

Though at times it seems as if the author is bashing the artist, Howard comes to those conclusions based on Summer's actions. Whether or not Summer's intentions are in line with his findings, we'll never know, until she writes a no holes-barred biography that doesn't just skim the surface.

"Oridinary Girl," isn't it. There are still things that Summer will not talk about including the "AIDS and Gays" controversy, instead using her charitable work for AIDS organizations to to speak for themselves, but Howard provides a play-by-play run down.

The book includes a bibliography, discography(including singles and album info), and TV appearances/specials. If you're looking for a book that's a page turner, giving a glimpse into the life of a legend, than this is it.

Donna Summer has led a fascinating life proving time and again that she is no "oridnary girl" and Howard lays it all out in this book.

Hmmmm.... This book was interesting. I picked this up only after reading Donna's book first, and then reading some of the other user reviews on this site. I got it cheap, and I must say I enjoyed it, flaws and all. It's no doubt entertaining, as I read it in just a day and a half. It's a very comfortable read. However, at times it seems like little more than a smear on Donna Summer rather than an unbiased, well researched chronicle of her life and career. While there are many revelations here that she did not make in her own book, some of the things he says seem based solely on his own opinion. His claim that she was never really accepted by blacks (particularly all the comments about the "On The Radio" album cover photos) seem like opinion stated as fact. I know plenty of black folks, young, old, straight and gay, who like her. His claim that the album cover has been feverishly discussed was not backed up at all. I'm black, and I've never heard such talk! I really liked the information about her early singles and the photos of those early picture sleeves... he definitely did his homework in some areas. Some of the quotes and things he pulls out of the cut directly contradict some things she said in her book (in this respect, you can tell he's a journalist). His whole account of the "Enough is Enough" sessions is extremely interesting. But at other times he does not seem to like his subject a whole hell of a lot. He constantly criticizes her appearance. He dogs her hair, make-up and costumes, and even dogs the photos from the "Live and More" LP jacket. I mean come on... even a passing pop music fan identifies Donna Summer with that photo of her singing, eyes closed and head tilted back. I always thought the album was nicely packaged with great pictures, but the brother is entitled to his opinion I guess. I also thought his account of her fallout with gays was very biased, seemingly calling her honesty into question. It's obvious he thinks she made the remarks denouncing gays based on the articles he chose to cite throughout that chapter. I guess I'm looking at it from a journalistic standpoint, but the book is just not very balanced at all. In his defense, I found the photos in this book more interesting than the ones in her's, and the discography and TV appearance sections were worlds better than that pitiful discography in Donna's autobiography. However, much of the book is poorly edited... I had to resist the temptation to take out my red pen and mark it up. But overall, it's pretty entertaining, light reading. You'll find out some things you didn't know, and if nothing else it's a nice bookend to Donna's less revealing "Ordinary Girl."